Nerve growth factor (NGF) was the first neurotrophin to be identified, and its role in the development and survival of both peripheral and central neurons has been well characterized. NGF has been shown to be a critical survival and maintenance factor in the development of peripheral sympathetic and embryonic sensory neurons and of basal forebrain cholinergic neurons. Smeyne et al., Nature 368:246-249 (1994) and Crowley et al., Cell 76:1001-1011 (1994). NGF up-regulates expression of neuropeptides in sensory neurons (Lindsay and Harmer, Nature 337:362-364 (1989)) and its activity is mediated through two different membrane-bound receptors, the TrkA tyrosine kinase receptor and the p75 common neurotrophin receptor (sometimes termed “high affinity” and “low affinity” NGF receptors, respectively). Chao et al., Science 232:518-521 (1986). The p75 receptor is structurally related to other members of the tumor necrosis factor receptor family (Chao, et al., Science 232:518-521 (1986)). For review on NGF, see Huang et al., Annu. Rev. Neurosci. 24:677-736 (2001); Bibel et al., Genes Dev. 14:2919-2937 (2000). The crystal structure of NGF and NGF in complex with the trkA receptor have been determined. See Nature 254:411 (1991); Nature 401:184-188 (1996).
In addition to its effects in the nervous system, NGF has been increasingly implicated in processes outside of the nervous system. For example, NGF has been shown to enhance vascular permeability (Otten, et al., Eur J Pharmacol. 106:199-201 (1984)), enhance T- and B-cell immune responses (Otten, et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 86:10059-10063 (1989)), induce lymphocyte differentiation and mast cell proliferation and cause the release of soluble biological signals from mast cells (Matsuda, et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 85:6508-6512 (1988); Pearce, et al., J. Physiol. 372:379-393 (1986); Bischoff, et al., Blood 79:2662-2669 (1992); Horigome, et al., J. Biol. Chem. 268:14881-14887 (1993)). Although exogenously added NGF has been shown to be capable of having all of these effects, it is important to note that it has only rarely been shown that endogenous NGF is important in any of these processes in vivo (Torcia, et al., Cell. 85(3):345-56 (1996)). Therefore, it is not clear what that effect might be, if any, of inhibiting the bioactivity of endogenous NGF.
NGF is produced by a number of cell types including mast cells (Leon, et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 91:3739-3743 (1994)), B-lymphocytes (Torcia, et al., Cell 85:345-356 (1996), keratinocytes (Di Marco, et al., J. Biol. Chem. 268:22838-22846)), smooth muscle cells (Ueyama, et al., J. Hypertens. 11:1061-1065 (1993)), fibroblasts (Lindholm, et al., Eur. J. Neurosci. 2:795-801 (1990)), bronchial epithelial cells (Kassel, et al., Clin, Exp. Allergy 31:1432-40 (2001)), renal mesangial cells (Steiner, et al., Am. J. Physiol. 261:F792-798 (1991)) and skeletal muscle myotubes (Schwartz, et al., J Photochem. Photobiol. B66:195-200 (2002)). NGF receptors have been found on a variety of cell types outside of the nervous system. For example, TrkA has been found on human monocytes, T- and B-lymphocytes and mast cells.
An association between increased NGF levels and a variety of inflammatory conditions has been observed in human patients as well as in several animal models. These include systemic lupus erythematosus (Bracci-Laudiero, et al., Neuroreport 4:563-565 (1993)), multiple sclerosis (Bracci-Laudiero, et al., Neurosci. Lett. 147:9-12 (1992)), psoriasis (Raychaudhuri, et al., Acta Derm. l'enereol. 78:84-86 (1998)), arthritis (Falcim, et al., Ann. Rheum. Dis. 55:745-748 (1996)), interstitital cystitis (Okragly, et al., J. Urology 161:438-441 (1999)) and asthma (Braun, et al., Eur. J Immunol. 28:3240-3251 (1998)).
Consistently, an elevated level of NGF in peripheral tissues is associated with hyperalgesia and inflammation and has been observed in a number of forms of arthritis. The synovium of patients affected by rheumatoid arthritis expresses high levels of NGF while in non-inflamed synovium NGF has been reported to be undetectable (Aloe, et al., Arch. Rheum. 35:351-355 (1992)). Similar results were seen in rats with experimentally induced rheumatoid arthritis (Aloe, et al., Clin. Exp. Rheumatol. 10:203-204 (1992)). Elevated levels of NGF have been reported in transgenic arthritic mice along with an increase in the number of mast cells (Aloe, et al., Int. J. Tissue Reactions-Exp. Clin. Aspects 15:139-143 (1993)). PCT Publication No. WO 02/096458 discloses use of anti-NGF antibodies of certain properties in treating various NGF related disorders such as inflammatory condition (e.g., rheumatoid arthritis). It has been reported that a purified anti-NGF antibody injected into arthritic transgenic mice carrying the human tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) gene caused reduction in the number of mast cells, as well as a decrease in histamine and substance P levels within the synovium of arthritis mice (Aloe et al., Rheumatol. Int. 14: 249-252 (1995)). It has been shown that exogenous administration of a NGF antibody reduced the enhanced level of TNF-α occurring in arthritic mice (Manni et al., Rheumatol. Int. 18: 97-102 (1998)).
Also, increased expression of NGF and high affinity NGF receptor (TrkA) was observed in human osteoarthritis chondrocytes (Iannone et al., Rheumatology 41:1413-1418 (2002)).
Rodent anti-NGF antagonist antibodies have been reported. See, e.g., Hongo et al, Hybridoma (2000) 19(3):215-227; Ruberti et Al. (1993) Cell. Molec. Neurobiol. 13(5): 559-568. However, when rodent antibodies are used therapeutically in humans, a human anti-murine antibody response develops in significant numbers of treated individuals. In addition, effector functions of mouse antibodies have proven to be less efficient in the human context. Thus, there is a serious need for anti-NGF antagonist antibodies, including humanized anti-NGF antagonist antibodies.
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